Tag: state parks

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04/07/2023 first pass at Bird Haven Trail

Briar judges Mom.
The only Escobaria we’ve seen so far!
This rock has really neat concentric layered circles!
Briar practices standing on new surfaces. She’s getting better about benches.
A lovely Echinocereus! Grama grass in the background, and a nice pile of small sandstones nearby. The fence in the background is the edge of the state park.
Another fine Echinocereus with grama grass. Cholla cactus and juniper in the background.
This rock has a sharply defined layer.
A soil crust lichen on sand!
Maybe some sort of Liatris plant stalk?
Big sandstone jutting up in the trail.
Yucca, lichen on sandstone, and sideoats grama grass.
Closeup of pointy yucca tips.
Waiting for botany time Mom. Briar was concerned.
A prairie lizard!!! Same genus as the spiny lizard at home.
Clove currant thinking about blooming.
Trail marker at top of hill. Nice sandstone layers here.
Mom caught up with us. Briar was happy.
Now that all humans in one place, Briar can rest in the bench shade.
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04/08/2023 Bird Haven Trail at Black Mesa SP

Invasive storks bill geranium in the mowed areas near camp and road.
Clove currant is thinking about blooming!
Don’t know what this seedhead is but it has cool divisions inside like a pinwheel!
Last year’s dried up silver leaf nightshade.
Saltbush (Atriplex sp) leaves
This trail has one bench before it merges with the Vista trail. There is a second bench on the Vista Trail towards the park office, overlooking the RV camp area. The trees shading it are hackberries.
Briar thought the flat rock was boring but Mom and I saw lots of good stuff here.
We saw several fast ants on the big flat rock.
Here are two smaller rocks together. Look carefully in the crack for a small green bit.
Zoomed in- do you see the green nub yet?
Here it is, an adorable baby cactus seedling!
Most of the cacti here seem to be the ribbed Echinocereus. I’m not sure about the baby since I don’t know if the seedlings should be ribbed yet or not. we saw one Escobaria type earlier on the trail.
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04/08/2023 mule deer!

Maybe a dozen or more Mule Deer heading across the camp road and up the hill! Here are two young or female.
One male was with them near the end of the herd!
Pausing on the hillside.
Two deer pausing in the rocks. We are still here at Black Mesa State Park.
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04/06/2023 Black Mesa Nature Preserve afternoon walk

Briar posed for us as we began our slow walk up the trail.
Here we go! Briar was on her leash and thought we were slow. Especially when I kept stopping to take photos of grama grass.
Mom also does botany photography along the trail!
I’ll look up this grasshopper when we get home.
I like how this photo has a cholla in front of a juniper with grama grass framing it. These were among the dominant plants along the trail.
Framed by the cholla cacti and distant junipers is a stretch of green tinted soil exposed by erosion! you can also see some of the abundant yuccas.
This young yucca by the trail already has a few strings peeling off the leaves.
One of the volcanic rocks that gives Black Mesa its name was down at our level. The trail climbs the Mesa for a round trip of 8.2 miles, but between botany and my arthritis we did a round trip of 1.6 miles in 1 hr and 50 min.
This dried leaf was very firm and had lovely reticulated veins.
Close up of cholla cactus branches and spines, with Black Mesa in the background.
Briar is the picture of patience once again. The packed earth trail is really broad and smooth!
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04/06/2023 morning wander at Black Mesa State Park

We are now at Black Mesa State Park. Mom and briar look for a bird!
We went to the start of the Petrified Forest trail. We will explore more in a few days.
Here’s a petrified log! Briar also smelled it.
I love all the grama grass here!
This big flat rock had an unexplained old bolt and washer in it.
Here’s the lichen on the same big flat rock!
There’s a Say’s Phoebe in here. we also saw a bunch of American Goldfinches and House Finches. There was a Canyon Towhee by the park office! We have also been hearing flickers and robins.
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04/05/2023 departure

We managed a short walk for dog business before Briar freaked out about wanting to get in truck. On that walk we saw this nice crustose lichen with orange apothecia (the round speckles) on a walnut tree.
Briar safe in the truck and you can’t take her out!!!
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04/04/2023 day two of Boiling Springs State Park

The world’s most cooperative Falcate Orangetip butterfly! Feeding at a dandelion here and we also saw it on henbit and speedwell.
The tree with some green is an elm and the pod tree is a catalpa!
This grass was everywhere. Mom says not coastal Bermuda, but otherwise we’re not sure.
The River Trail was full of old and fallen and standing cottonwood trees. I liked the pattern on this barkless log.
Dad spotted this well-camouflaged Buprestidae beetle! I used my macro Moment lens on the phone camera to admire its nice punctate (the dimples) elytra (the hard wing covers).
There were also quite a few Kentucky Coffee Trees with their distinctive seed pods. Mom hadn’t seen them before so we looked it up and they’re not in Texas much.
Briar dog for scale on a bridge over the small springfed creek with a big, big cottonwood tree in the background.
I liked this tree’s bark!
The Civilian Conservation Core pump house near the spring’s source. Briar hopes it has air conditioning???
We didn’t go in the pump house but continued in the visitor center area (everything here was paved and accessible) to see the very channeled spring creek.
Briar did find the cool flagstones in the shade to be acceptable. the “boiling” sand is in the fenced area. Mom will be blogging it eventually so look at her site for video coming in the next week or so!
Mom spotted our second ever Olympia Marble butterfly! It was fast and flighty. It was mostly feeding on henbit flowers in the lawn area behind the visitor center.
On our walk back we saw this beaver-gnawed tree. The park office person told us the beaver had recently moved and she didn’t know where to, so we showed her yesterday’s beaver den and she agreed that was probably it! We have been listening to a great book about beavers lately called “Eager” by Ben Goldfarb. I recommend it so far!
Briar looks out over more CCC work- the stone edged bridge.
Now this afternoon and evening we’re hunkered down in a big dust storm! Glad we walked this morning and early afternoon when the sky was still blue.
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04/03/2023 extended field trip

The painted brown entrance sign at Boiling Springs State Park.
Briar thinks camping might be okay.
A lovely prairie near the Spring Hill trail.
Some beautiful grama grass curled empty seedheads with a background of little bluestem.
Yuccas under a soapberry tree.